1. Introduction: South American indigenous languages - genealogy, typology, contacts Pieter Muysken and Loretta O'Connor; Part I. Introduction to South America: 2. Human migrations, dispersals, and contacts in South America Loretta O'Connor and Vishnupriya Kolipakam; 3. Basic vocabulary comparison in South American languages Harald Hammarström; Part II. Case Studies in Contact: 4. Structural features and language contact in the Isthmo-Colombian Area Loretta O'Connor; 5. The Andean foothills and adjacent Amazonian fringe Rik van Gijn; 6. The Andean matrix Simon van de Kerke and Pieter Muysken; 7. The Arawakan matrix Love Eriksen and Swintha Danielsen; 8. The Tupian expansion Love Eriksen and Ana Vilacy Galucio; Part III. Comparative Perspectives on Linguistic Structures: 9. Language internal and external factors in the development of the desiderative in South American indigenous languages Neele Mueller; 10. Verbal argument marking patterns in South American languages Joshua Birchall; 11. The noun phrase: focus on demonstratives, redrawing the semantic map Olga Krasnoukhova; 12. Subordination strategies in South America: nominalization Rik van Gijn; Part IV. Major Findings and Conclusions: 13. The languages of South America: deep families, areal relationships, and language contact Joshua Birchall, Swintha Danielsen, Love Eriksen, Ana Vilacy Galucio, Rik van Gijn, Harald Hammarström, Simon van de Kerke, Vishnupraya Kolipakam, Olga Krasnoukhova, Pieter Muysken, Neele Müller and Loretta O'Connor.